Flames blanked on road trip after 2-1 loss to Blackhawks

There were 49 good reasons why Jonas Hiller had confidence going into Sunday’s game at the United Center.

On Sunday night, he added 26 more. But this time it wasn’t enough to fend off the Chicago Blackhawks as they handed the Calgary Flames a 2-1 loss and a fifth-straight defeat.

“I thought we played a pretty good game,” said the Flames netminder who’d stopped 26 of 28 attempts, many of which kept his team afloat. “We had chances, especially in the first two periods. I felt we played pretty well and they had something there in the third.

“It’s tough, the position where we’re at right now to lose a game where you have a chance. To lose it in the third period like that, it hurts.”

Starting Hiller in net on Sunday had been a no-brainer for the Flames given his 49(!)-save performance back on Oct. 15 in a 2-1 overtime win.

Having been out-played that night, the Calgarians certainly battled toe-to-toe with the Blackhawks in their second trip to the Windy City this 2014-15 season.

Tied 1-1 heading into the third period and very much in the game, the Flames allowed one blip in the final 20 minutes and it wound up costing them.

Catching an edge, Johnny Gaudreau turned the puck over with 7:03 remaining and the Hawks capitalized. Despite a backchecking Mark Giordano, Brandon Saad managed to pull the home team ahead and the score stuck until the final buzzer.

“During the year, sometimes it goes your way,” Hiller said. “Or sometimes it goes against you. Things aren’t going our way right now, but we can’t just say ‘it’s too bad.’ We have to find a way to work harder and battle out of this.

“We have chances, but we’re making a few too many mistakes right now and it’s costing us.”

Hiller did his part on Sunday, especially in the final 20 minutes when the Hawks outshot the Flames 10-5.

He stopped a slapshot from Duncan Keith and an ensuing shot from Kane. A few minutes later, after the Flames watched Kane dangle around with the puck, and Hiller calmed down the action when he batted down a Kris Versteeg shot out of mid-air.

A frustrating result for the visitors, considering how good Hiller was on this night, how well they battled, and how sharp they were defensively.

“They had a lot of zone time and we kept them to the outside,” said Flames defenceman Deryk Engelland. “But a turnover at the blueline cost us at least one point. A team like that with that much fire power up front, they’re waiting for turnovers and odd-man rushes.”

Up until the third period marker, it had been either team’s game.

After a scoreless first period, Gaudreau had zipped down the ice early in the second period along with TJ Brodie acting as a decoy.

Instead of passing to the smooth skating defender, Gaudreau fed the trailer — Jiri Hudler. Making no mistake, the Czech winger hit the top corner on a one-timer from the slot at 4:27 into the middle frame.

However, Chicago’s special teams kicked in. They scored only nine seconds into Dennis Wideman’s holding penalty with a perfect tic-tac-toe play between Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Sharp to tie the game 1-1.

“Perfect execution from the Hawks,” said Flames head coach Bob Hartley. “Then, the second goal was off the turnover. Johnny slipped and lost the puck. He’s so good with the puck and got a bad edge on his skate … it doesn’t happen too often.

“But right now, it seems whenever we need a break it’s not there.”

For the most part, the Flames were sharp defensively the entire game — which hadn’t been the case on the majority of this road trip.

Kris Russell was burned by Sharp at the blueline with six minutes remaining in the second period. Saving the day, however, the Calgary defender managed to race back and prevent a scoring opportunity. And early in the third period, Engelland timed a block perfectly on Ben Smith.

“I think we’ve been playing well,” Engelland said. “It seems like one mental lapse is costing us games. If we can prepare a little different or stay mentally focused for 60 minutes a night.

“Chicago, Pittsburgh, these last two games have been against top teams in this league. We know we can hang with them, we just have to stick to the ways that are working and keep the workboots on.”

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